Did you know?

China has the world’s largest diabetes epidemic, and it continues to grow at a fearsome pace. Rapidly rising rates of diabetes have been seen in previous studies, and the most recent research found that China has overtaken the USA in terms of diabetes prevalence: according to the latest data, 11.6% of Chinese adults have diabetes. The Chinese diabetes population stands at some 114 million people — about a third of all people with diabetes. The authors of this study warned of the enormous strain on the country’s public health system.1

Perhaps more worryingly, the study also found that out of 99,000 people surveyed, half had pre-diabetes blood glucose levels – abnormally high but not high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes. The researchers’ projections suggest that there are 493.4 million with pre-diabetes. These findings indicate the enormity of diabetes as a public health problem in China.People with diabetes already shoulder a heavy economic burden. Another study found that health costs were dramatically higher for people with diabetes than for people without the disease.2